NAHP – Credibility of US Hispanic Print With Audit Requirement Changes.

The National Association of Hispanic Publications (NAHP) recently celebrated its 20th Anniversary at its 17th Annual Convention in Dallas.

More than 500 people including Hispanic publishers, corporate executives, advertising agencies and vendors of publishing solutions were in attendance to witness an historic amendment to the NAHP bylaws that will ultimately serve to instill more credibility to US Hispanic print media.

Robert Armband, VP of Marketing for the NAHP, stated that he was pleased with the passing of a new bylaw by the membership, wherein “effective March 18, 2002, all publications seeking to be NAHP General Members must have an audit in good standing from a recognized audit company.” In addition, “as of Jan. 1, 2004, present unaudited NAHP General Members with quoted circulation of 20,000 or more will become Associate Members.”

This issue of audited circulation has been has been a priority for the NAHP Board since Zeke Montes became president of the Association in 1999. Armband cited the fact that advertisers are rightfully skeptical about the circulation claims of unaudited publications. “The NAHP has made publishing history by changing its bylaws to require an audit for membership thus, lending circulation credibility to its industry,” stated Armband.

The NAHP is a publisher driven Association comprised of more than 200 Hispanic publications with a combined weekly circulation of over 10 million copies. Kirk Whisler, president of Latino Print Network, one of the official rep firms for the NAHP, stated, “already 6.6 million of the membership’s circulation is audited. With this new bylaw, before long we will only sell audited circulation, thus establishing a precedent as the only minority publishing association requiring its membership to be audited.”

Another important NAHP contribution to advertisers and marketers endeavoring to learn more about the Hispanic market was the release at the Convention of the top line findings from the 2002 US Hispanic Consumer & Media Study. The Study was produced by the NAHP & the National Hispanic Press Foundation in partnership with Belden Associates and Mund Americas. The national Study of more than 3,500 US Hispanics from 12 markets revealed several new findings, some of which mark a significant departure from what is widely accepted about US Hispanics concerning language and media usage and segmentation. The Study is available by subscription through the NAHP National headquarters.

Robert Armband, the NAHP board member who organized the new Study, summed it up by stating, “We have gone to great lengths to research the Latino population, our readers, in the United States and make the information available to marketers. Now, the results of this research, along with our new audited circulation membership requirement, should remove any doubt about the credibility and viability of Hispanic print as a superior advertising vehicle.”